MINERAL MAGNETISM.
THE efficacy of the magnet in curing certain disorders of the nervous system, has been the topic of discussion by the Westminster Me- dical Society ut their last three meetings. Dr. SCHMIDT, of Berlin, brought the subject before the Society, in a paper wherein he gave a sketch of the history of the application of loadstone and artificial magnets to the cure of disease, from the earliest times, and developed his new themy of magnetism. That a curative influence has been commonly ascribed to the magnet, is well known. Tire amulets of old were made of loadstone : and many persons to this day—among them the present King, WILLIAM the Fourth—wear magnets as preventives against certain diseases, rheumatism amongst others. Then how has it happened, it will be asked, that this remedy, if it be efficacious, has not been recognized and adopted by medical men ? or if it has been employed by them, how came it to fall into disuse ? Dr. SCHMIDT answers-
1st. That the magical formulm with which in the dark ages of medical science magnetistn was mixed up, caused it to be regarded merely as a charm ; mid it fell into contempt as such in more enlightened times— or, what is worse, it was taken up by quacks : 2d. That the magnets hitherto employed were too weak to produce a permanent cure of serious disorders ; and that when they got weaker by use, there was no ine:shod of renewing them.
But, even under these disadvantages, the magnet has been used, and with considerable success, as appears from the wr:tings of Dr. BECKER and other modern German physicians, and the elaborate work of ANDRY and TIIOURET, who were deputed by the Academy of Medicine at Paris to investigate the subject of magnetic cures. Dr. SCHMIDT'S claims to attention rest upon his discovery of a new theory of the chemical laws of the megnetic influeece, by which he is
enabled to construct magnets of much greater power, and to apply them in such a way as to produce more sensible and permanent effects upon the nervous system. In proof of the soundness of this new theory, magnets constructed according to its principles are produced; and all who have witnessed their powers of attraction allow that they surpass any previously made. Whether they are intlueatial in the cure of tic doloureux, nervous deafness, weakness of sight, incipient amau- rosis (black cataract), rheumatism, nervous headache, toothache, &c., remains to be proved by numerous and well-authentic cases. The discussion by the Westminster Society seems to have left the matter pretty much where it was. The medical men naturally asked
for evidence ; which Dr. SCHMIDT was not prepared with. He had,
he said, hundreds of successful cases in his Coetinental practice of five or six years' duration ; and he stated that there were two Dispensaries of Magnetism now established at Berlin ; but he very properly re- frained from producing evidence that could not be authenticated; and his practice during his stay here has not afforded him a sufficiern; num-
ber of facts to btar out the whole of his case. He, however, expressed his willingness to receive the poor patients of any medical gentlemen; and he was very liberally offered in return the entrée of the Hospitals. The Westminster Opthalmic Hospital is to be the field where Dr. SCHMIDT is to make his first public trial of the virtue of the magnet.
Previous page
